[Weekend Box Office] Swarm Tops for 3rd Week After Surpassing 4.72 Million… Dong-won Kang’s Wild Thing Debuts in 2nd Place

South Korea’s theaters are in an unprecedented state of infection right now. Created by director Yeon Sang-ho, the K-zombie milestone of ‘Swarm’ has completely wrecked the weekend box office while displaying overwhelming dominance for its third week of release. Within just three days, it swallowed up 600,300 viewers and logged an astonishing figure of a 44.4% share of sales. The film, which has now surpassed 4.72 million cumulative admissions, also grabbed the title of the shortest time this year’s released movies have taken to claim the 4-million mark. With its box-office momentum running wild, the freight-train performance of 'Swarm', which broke the limits of the zombie genre, is not expected to stop anytime soon.

A fun rebellion kicked off amid a bloody spectacle of zombies. ‘Wild Thing,’ director Son Jae-gon’s signature offbeat comedy that really hits its stride, drew 320,000 moviegoers over the weekend and debuted in impressive fashion as the No. 2 film at the box office. The intriguing premise of a 20-year reunion of the 2000s legendary co-ed group Triangle stirs up viewers’ nostalgia and their appetite for laughs at the same time. In particular, the addition of dependable actor Oh Jung-se—joining the audacious idol lineup of 'Dong-won Kang', 'Tae-goo Uhm', and 'Ji-hyun Park'—is the movie’s most powerful weapon. Amid a harsh reality, the ripple effects of this fresh comedy boom hitting theaters are not something viewers can afford to overlook.

Urban legends in the digital era have been cleverly taking over screens. The mystery horror 'Back Room', which struck a chord online, captivated 190,000 viewers over the weekend and settled into third place at the box office, proving the strong power of the niche market. The unfamiliar fear brought by a familiar space zeroed in on the viewing appetite of MZ-generation audiences. Meanwhile, the electrifying film 'Michael', which shines a light on the dazzling yet lonely inner side of pop’s emperor Michael Jackson, earned 63,000 selections and ranked fourth, quietly continuing the legacy of well-made music movies.

The current order of the box office is destined to face a major shift in the ground beneath it. The Hollywood titan 'Steven Spielberg' returns with the SF blockbuster 'Disclosure Day', which is racing to a resounding No. 1 with a pre-sales rate of 24.3%. This is more than just the opening of a new release—it signals a reset of the theater-going landscape. Right behind it, 'Swarm' (14.5%) and 'Wild Thing' (12.5%) are preparing to defend their positions, while director 'Hirokazu Kore-eda'’s psychological drama 'Sheep in a Box' (7.2%) has emerged as a dark horse. As the coming weekend arrives, the curtain rises on a true cinematic war.